DALLAS -- Anthony Davis capped his most complete performance in a Dallas Mavericks uniform with a sequence that displayed his two-way brilliance to close out a 120-118 win Wednesday night over the Atlanta Hawks.

Davis scored the go-ahead basket, driving left for a floater over Atlanta's Onyeka Okongwu with 3.4 seconds left. After the timeout, Davis smothered Hawks star guard Trae Young on a switch, forcing a tightly contested step-back 3 that failed to draw iron at the buzzer.

"To have a closer and a two-way player like Anthony, we all rally around him," Mavs shooting guard Klay Thompson said. "We go as he goes. He's obviously our best player, so he did what he was supposed to do. That was incredible."

Davis finished with 34 points, 15 rebounds and 5 blocks in 30 minutes as the Mavs moved 1 games ahead of the Sacramento Kings in what has been an underwhelming battle for the right to host the Western Conference's 9-10 play-in game.

It was Davis' first dominant performance since his Dallas debut Feb. 8, when he had 26 points, 16 rebounds, 7 assists and 3 blocks in 31 minutes before he suffered a strained left adductor that sidelined him for the next six weeks.

"That's who he is," Mavs guard Spencer Dinwiddie said. "I hope Dallas gets to see a lot of that, for both the city's sake and his own. ... He obviously wants to carry this team. He wants to perform."

Davis had struggled to find his groove in his first four games back from the injury, averaging 14.3 points and 6.8 rebounds in 28.5 minutes ahead of the Hawks matchup.

"It's just a mental hurdle of allowing my body to just be free," said Davis, who received four stitches over his right eye after catching an inadvertent elbow from teammate Daniel Gafford at the end of the first quarter Wednesday. "Even though I've been pain-free and haven't had any problems, I've always had a burst and then start thinking about it. I just made up my mind after my pregame nap, I was just going to play and just whatever happens, happens. Just go out there and just play with a lot of energy, a lot of force, a lot of dominance and was able to catch a rhythm."

Mavs center Dereck Lively II returned Wednesday, playing for the first time since he suffered a stress fracture in his right ankle in January. It was backup center Gafford's second game since returning from a sprained knee. The big men combined for 15 points and 11 rebounds in 36 minutes.

"We know how dominant we can be when we are healthy and available," Davis said. "It's just about us going out there and enforcing our dominance."